We just picked up seven more bottle babies this morning. Scott and I just fed them their bottles and then the boys went into their pen to snuggle with them. The youngest is four days old. Some of them are so fluffy, they look like plush dolls. To clarify, these babies are in constant motion, as are our boys. A nice, crisp picture may just … Continue reading Another Round of Bottle Babies
It turns out, our goats are not pregnant. Yes. We are beginners, and we thought they were, and didn’t really know what to look for, and were confused by how not fat they were. Birthing time came and went, and went by a long stretch, and nothing. We talked to our Goat Mentor, Sue, who had them out to her property for breeding, witnessed the … Continue reading A Happy Little Symphony
Of all the garden books I have, this one has become my favorite. More than anything, it is a poetic journey into the soil and into the very heart of how things grow. Most of my other books have lots of pictures, and how-to elements. This one speaks to my soul, and my heart. I routinely finish reading with tears in my eyes, reminded again … Continue reading Dinosaurs and Dragons in the Garden
The animals have a large area to roam, but they really like to be walked by one of us. Here, Benjamin is walking the pigs and the goats. In the first picture, SweePea is getting really close to Ben, hoping there might be an apple or something in his back pocket. She’s the cutest, sweetest, 800-lb animal we have ever been around. Still, you want … Continue reading You Got Something in your Pocket?
That is Madrone (or Mama), one of our goats due to deliver any day, being super curious. These are not the clearest pictures, because those babies won’t stay still. But this shows how tiny they are right now. Continue reading Bottle Baby Goats are Here!
We have new baby goats, picked up today from our Goat Mentor, Sue. The babies like their new home and are dancing around. Our pregnant goats are all curious and crazy over them. This should be fun! Continue reading Baby Goat Dancing
Scott just loves this picture of a proud, happy, baby pig sunning himself in the mud! Continue reading Sunning Himself in the Mud
In summertime, we will once again have eggs for sale. Our Chickens are not producing a lot of eggs this time of year. This just cracks me up. Continue reading Look at the Size of that Egg!
This is our Benjamin. At eight-years old, he has become the Chicken Charmer. Every single one of our chickens will let him hold them. Sometimes, he swears, they snuggle. Ben and Bean with Cousin Olivia – bunch of Goofballs if you ask me! Continue reading Chicken Charmer
Our animals are so happy. Scott takes such good care of them. He takes them for walks every day. Continue reading Out Walking the Field with the Animals
I It’s crazy – the bunny is so blazing white, that he’s hard to see. That is our little Bean keeping the Bunny company while everyone else was chopping wood. The mural was done by Benjamin and me (Liesl / Mom) during our first summer up here in Oregon when he was six. Continue reading Hanging out with the Bunnies
It was so much fun to bring all the pigs home, SweePea and her whole litter. They are adorable running around out back field. Continue reading The Pigs Like Their New Home
Trying to build a barn extension for the goat babies that will be here any day, is like trying to do a building project with a toddler as a helper. They are all over everything. Continue reading The Goats are Always Trying to Help
The pigs were born on Election Day 2012. Scott got to race out to Sue’s farm to help deliver the babies. Continue reading Pig Babies are Born
This was in April of 2012. We would spend most of the summer waiting to get everything in order to bring her to our farm. But we knew right away that she needed to be with us! Continue reading The Day we Met SweePea
One of the things I love about the end of one year and the beginning of another, is looking over what we accomplished and setting our sights on new goals. This year was a bit of a highlight because I don’t think we have ever done so many new things in one year. We went from city kids to country kids in 2012. At the … Continue reading A Year in Review and My Calendar Conundrum
There are more tragedies in the world than I can fathom. The truth is, our world is so connected, we cannot help but know devastating details of incidents that happen across vast distances. Which is why I have unplugged recently. The recent cruelties and losses have been horrendous. I stopped listening to the radio. I haven’t been online in quite a while. It scared me … Continue reading Regrouping and Using Curiosity & Creativity Locally
My husband had our 8-year old helping make breakfast for our Big Country Breakfast on Sunday. It was homemade biscuits with homemade gravy and scrambled eggs from our chickens. Ben was cracking the eggs and whisking them. He was adding the salt and pepper, and noticing that we are running low on salt. He suggested going to the Bonneville Salt Flats for a refill. (He … Continue reading Simplicity: How Did We Ever Forget?
There she is – in all her glory – checking out her new pig pen that we built out of an old skateboard ramp we took apart board by board (actually Joe did last summer) from a tree job my husband did. Oh – that was such a fortuitous job – because we did a partial trade for the granite sink we just put in … Continue reading The Pigs are Home! The Pigs are Home! Sweet Pea’s Finally Here!
Scott kept himself busy today working up a delicious dinner. I got home to fresh baked cookies. There were homemade hamburger buns, hamburgers and bacon from our local Butcher Shop (which only sells locally raised meat). Throw in some homemade potato chips. We had the canned jalapenos from the garden, and mayonnaise made from our own chicken’s eggs. Oh, and he made the little guys … Continue reading Home Grown. Homemade. A Little Bragging on my Man!
Bean has had such an exciting day. He got to negotiate with a Motorcycle Builder and Shop Owner today for a little mini-bike. Dave asked him, as he’s asked him several times in the past, “How much do you have in your pocket?” Well, this time, Bean was prepared. He’d asked his dad moments before they walked into the shop to give him $5.00 to … Continue reading “Better Stock up on Oil and Band-aids, Mom!”
The fireplace is installed, and the boys sat with their dad as he made the first fire in our new wood-burning stove. We sat and watched the fire for a little while, and felt it warm up the house beyond our wildest dreams. Then, the day actually turned into a sunny day, and we realized we had lots to do outside to prepare for the … Continue reading We Finish the Fireplace to Unseasonably Warm Weather
Up in the Attic, putting in the Chimney Pipe. It looks dark and scary, but I am seriously envisioning some whitewash, some dormer windows, and some big open spaces up here for an art room or study! Fun, right? We could not resist taking a photo once light started pouring into the attic, and Scott could poke his head out of the roof. I scurried … Continue reading Chimney. Done. Stove. Tomorrow.
I asked the boys today what their favorite part of the Fall Season is, and they started mentioning all the bright colors of the trees. Before we knew it, we were in the middle of a gigantic art project. I pick up these enormous sized papers at Costco – they give them to me for free when I tell them I’m working with young artists … Continue reading Keeping Little Hands Busy while Daddy is installing the Wood Stove
Even better than cloud busting, Ben and I imagined a dragon in the fog this morning. Do you see it? Continue reading Dragon-Shaped Fog
